Wheeling, W. Va. - On Tuesday, the Mountain East Conference (MEC) continued to release their weekly Player of the Week awards, presented by The Healthplan. The Wheeling University Men's Swimming team is coming off their first-ever MEC win this weekend when they beat West Virginia Wesleyan as part of their Saturday tri-meet and were rewarded as they earned conference recognition. Men's Swimmer Quintin Tayali was named the MEC's Male Swimmer of the Week after putting together a pair of first place finishes and three top three finishes as he helped his team capture the historic victory.
After having to sit out all last season, Tayali was competing in his first collegiate event at the tri-meet and came out the gate strong. He competed in three different short yardage swims on the day and kicked things off with the 50-Yard Freestyle in the eighth event of the afternoon. He was able to take first with a time of 22.17 to win the event by .30 tenths of a second over Frostburg State's Julian Najarro Sedar. He came back six events later in the 100-Yard Freestyle, and continued his success, winning the event with a time of 48.54 seconds. He again beat out a Bobcat, finishing .33 tenths of a second ahead of Frostburg State's Noah Loper. His final race was in the 100-Yard Breaststroke and, while he was unable to pick up a third gold to round out the day, he still came away with a top three finish, placing third with a time of 1:02.88.
Tayali was forced to sit out all last season, his first with the Wheeling Men's Swim program, and came out strong in his collegiate debut. He did swim in one exhibition meet a season ago, where he set a base line for this year's competition. He beat every one of his times that he set in that exhibition meet as he continues to grow in the pool. Over the last few seasons, the Wheeling Men's Swimming team has been looking for someone to take command of the short yardage events, and Tayali made a strong case for it to be him right off the bat. He did not compete in the season-opening meet at the West Virginia State games and is looking to use this performance to help propel him into the rest of the schedule.
Tayali is the seventh Wheeling University student-athlete to be recognized as a conference athlete of the week this season, and the second this week. He joins Wheeling Men's Cross Country runner Izaiha Browning as the other honoree, after Browning was named the MEC Male Cross Country Runner of the Week. Tayali is also the first Men's Swimmer to be recognized as an MEC Swimmer of the Week since former Cardinal Ethan Banks took home the award on November 14th, 2022.
Tayali and the Wheeling University Men's Swimming team return to the pool on Friday, October 20th, when they compete in tri-meet action against Washington & Jefferson and Allegheny College at 5 PM.
